


Inverted Reflections

by Spectre18



Series: IDW Shattered Glass [1]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Shattered Glass
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Canon Compliant, Explicit Language, I will mock SG Roddy's ridiculous facial hair every chance I get, Mirror Universe, Or not, Other, SG Optimus is a complete lunatic, Springer has ptsd issues, Warning: it's gonna get darkish, blame overlord, enjoy, fun with mirror verses, just enjoy it please, no one is safe, only a little though, plenty of character death, so you might want to read that first, takes place after requiem of the wreckers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-23 00:06:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18538240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spectre18/pseuds/Spectre18
Summary: “And… be better. Springer out.”With those final words, the green and gold Triple-changer in question ended his farewell message to his former colleagues, and waved goodbye to his dear and closest friend Verity one last time. Then, with a sad, hopeful smile and a salute, he stepped into Mesothulas’ Time Maze and into the unknown.But something was... off.He was supposed to go back in time and stop the war, but it seems that fate had other plans for him. Now, trapped in a backwards universe, facing twisted, villainous reflections of his old allies, will Springer be able to work with strange versions of his enemies to stand against a power-mad lunatic and find a way home, or will they all be consumed by a looming, crushing darkness that seeks total annihilation of the universe itself?





	Inverted Reflections

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my version of IDW Shattered Glass! Quick note: this takes place right after IDW's amazing Requiem of the Wreckers one-shot, so you might want to read that so you don't get mildly confused. :) So without further ado, here we go....

“And… be better. Springer out.”

 

With those final words, the green and gold Triple-changer in question ended his farewell message to his former colleagues, and waved goodbye to his dear and closest friend Verity one last time. Then, with a sad, hopeful smile and a salute, he stepped into Mesothulas’ Time Maze and into the unknown.

 

But something was... off.

 

It took awhile for Springer to realize it, since he’d never personally experienced time travel before, but all of a sudden he felt a strange, sickening feeling that coursed through his frame, from his helm to his feet. As he found himself free falling through the multicolored wormhole that marked the strange, in between realm of infraspace, Springer felt like his entire body right down to his atoms were being torn apart, almost like when he….. no. He sure as hell was **NOT** going to think about G-9 or any other of those awful things he experienced during his time with the Wreckers. He was starting over now, hopefully in a time where he could actually do some good for once in his life. But this didn’t feel right to the triple changer. This felt… well, wrong was really the only word his processor could come up with to describe the strange feeling he felt as he hurled through infraspace.

 

Then, without warning, he felt his frame start to reassemble itself into real space. As Springer reflexively stretched his limbs, he noticed that his body felt odd. Almost like he was being put back together the opposite way. But his thoughts immediately turned elsewhere as his olfactory sensors picked up an all-too-familiar smell, prompting him to look up and notice his new surroundings.

 

“When the hell….?” Springer’s question died down as he took in where he was. Then it hit him, causing his already waning enthusiasm to plummet entirely. He was on Cybertron, all right.

 

But he was too late.

 

He had been trying to reach Cybertron at a point in time before the war that tore the planet apart, and while he hadn’t been online during the so-called, misnomered ‘Golden Age’, Springer could guess he had reached the wrong time period. He was pretty sure a planet at peace wasn’t covered in burning, half-destroyed structures and polluted, ash-filled murky grey skylines. That meant he was in the wrong time, and worse,he didn’t have anything to rectify his mistake and get to when he was supposed to be.

 

“Son of a….” Springer muttered, allowing himself a klick to rattle off a string of both Cybertronian and Human (the latter of which he had picked up on from Verity during their time in the barn together) curses under his breath to vent his frustration and feelings of failure. Oh well, he was stuck…. whenever he was exactly, and that was that. He may have been too late to stop the war, but he could still try to make the most of the situation and do as much good as he could possibly do. Maybe since he wasn’t with the Wreckers this time around, he would get that opportunity…

 

Suddenly, Springer's train of thought crashed and burned as his audio sensors picked up an alarmingly familiar cacophony- the sounds of explosions and blaster fire. And only a few meters away, no less. _Now’s your chance_ , Springer thought to himself as he stretched his limbs (time-travel sure makes ‘mechs sore as hell, believe it or not), then after a nanoklick pulled one of his duel Silinium swords off his back and started walking confidently towards the distant, yet still very loud ruckus. _You wanted to do some good for once in your life? Well now’s your chance, Springer, the triple changer thought to himself as he scrambled over a sizable pile of rubble, the noises of war getting increasingly louder as he neared it. Go over there and save whatever poor Autobot is over there getting their aft kicked by what sounds like a small army of ‘Cons — **wait a ‘klick, what the PIT is this**?!?_ Springer grinded to a halt as he finally got in sight of the firefight, suddenly unsure of what to make of what his visual lenses were registering.

 

 

 

The first thing that struck Springer as odd was the trio of combatants he could see clearly engaged in one hell of a two-on-one firefight (well, the second thing. The actual first was that only three Cybertronians could be making that much noise, though that was quickly assuaged by seeing that the two of them that he could see were armed with a ludicrous amount of weaponry) among the burnt out ruins of what appeared to be a old med center.

 

The first of the two combatants, who were pinning the third behind a large mound of rubble with a hail of blaster fire spewing from a pair of heavy blasters, looked oddly like Black Shadow (and he DEFINITELY knew that smug, leering faceplate- the Wreckers had a 3-D Holoprint of that spawn-of-a-glitch who had once humiliated them in a fight hanging up back at Debris that the team regularly used as targeting practice)... but that was definitely near impossible.

 

He remembered hearing about the Phase-Sixer’s overly-horrific demise at the hands of the Decepticon Justice Division from Roadbuster during their last mission together. And while Roadbuster may not have been the brightest spark plug in the box, Springer knew that Black Shadow was definitely offline. The DJD liked to make very public, very gruesome examples out of prominent targets like him, and he had seen vids of Black Shadow’s execution. Yet here he was, albeit with a new blue and grey paint job that at a first glance gave him a slight resemblance to Fortress Maximus. Maybe this was his flamboyant, rogue scoundrel space pirate of a mold-twin Blue Bachuss? Maybe… but in his spark, Springer knew that was Black Shadow (he’d shot at the holo of it enough to know that faceplate). He didn’t know how the frag that was possible, but that was almost certainly the one-time Phase Sixer, in the mesh.

 

And the other attacker, who at the moment unloading a very large rifle into the pile of rubble that the still unseen third mech was using as cover… was that Rodimus? Springer would’ve recognized that kid’s over-confident, cocky demeanor anywhere — Primus knows how much he had to put up with it during their thankfully-brief time working together during the clusterfrag that was the Great Push — but what the scrap was he doing with a dirty Con like Black Shadow? Last Springer had heard of Rodimus, he had gone off questing halfway across the galaxy looking for the mythic Knights of Cybertron (even thinking of it now, the triple changer couldn’t hold back a cynical scoff as he slid behind a scorched, ruined operating table, intent on getting into cover until he could fully assess the situation. _As if_ some group of mystical, ‘heroic’ group of ancient mechs could be the easy answer to all of Cybertron’s ridiculously large number of problems). And though after a nanoklick, he reminded himself that he had to be in the past, he knew for sure that Rodimus had never run around with Black Shadow.

 

And Springer certainly knew that while the kid was over-the-top when it came to his paint, he never saw Rodimus with a purple and black paint job, and definitely not with a….. what almost looked like _human facial hair_ on his faceplate. And ridiculous facial hair at that. It reminded Springer of those ridiculous villains that Verity had enjoyed making fun of whenever they had watched Earth holovids… and certainly seemed like something the Rodimus he knew wouldn’t have been caught offline looking like. Had he gone mental? And what the scrap was he doing working with Black Shadow?

 

And although he couldn’t see the third mech, who was still stuck behind that pile of rubble and only showed a unremarkable grey arm every once in a while to return fire, Springer had a feeling that their appearance would only be even more odd to him.

 

Then Springer noticed something else after he finished processing the strange pair’s appearances: that both Rodimus and Black Shadow had Autobot badges. But while the fact that Black Shadow was somehow an Autobot now wasn’t rattling enough, both of their badges were… _Purple?!?_

 

Yeah, something was seriously wrong here. When the hell did he travel to? Some crazy, weird distant future where Black Shadow had come back from the dead and became an Autobot, and Rodimus has lost his self-proclaimed “superior sense of style”?

 

Sure, that was surely it, right? That had to be. That was the only thing that made remote sense in this.

 

The immediate, more urgent question that needed answering, however, was what Springer should do. If he got out from cover and approached the pair of Autobots and spoke to them, would Rodimus recognize him as an old war buddy? Or would he see a stranger, just another foe who needed blasting? And even if he didn’t, what would Springer say to him, exactly? Hey Rodimus, it’s me, Springer. _I know the last thing you probably heard about me was that I was in a really bad coma fr-_ **(Don’t think about that Don’t think about that DON’T THINK ABOUT G-9 DAMMIT)**. _Anyway, don’t worry, I got better. Also, a REALLY long time ago, don’t really know how far back, I went into a time machine to try and go back and stop the war, but I somehow I ended up in the far future where the war restarted? Anyway, how have you been?_ There was no telling exactly how the red (sorry, purple now.) Autobot would react to that crazy (albeit true) story, or if he’d even believe the triple changer’s unlikely words.

 

And this just was based on the assumption that Black Shadow wouldn’t attack Springer the moment the latter showed his faceplate, dead intent on finishing what he started during that violent, bloody long ago brawl on Sheraos.

 

However, before Springer could make a choice and take the initiative, Rodimus happened to glance over while he paused to reload his rifle and notice this strange, green and gold mech sporting, from his point of view, an off-color Autobot badge on his chest, crouching behind cover. “Hey!” He shouted, catching Springer slightly off guard and causing Black Shadow to stop shooting and glance over at his partner in confusion. “Who the frag are you?”

 

So Rodimus _had_ forgotten him. Great.

 

But as Springer opened his mouth to respond to the ‘bot’s inquiry, the still-unknown third combatant evidently decided that now was their opportunity to retaliate.

 

“Get back, you foul, tyrannical thugs!” Cried out a deep, slightly-rasping voice that carried an air of authority, as if his words alone would drive away the two Autobots, shortly followed by a burst of blaster-fire. Upon hearing that voice, Springer turned to his left, and saw…. no.

 

_No fragging way._

 

While their colors may have confused and off-put Springer, he definitely could see who that mech was, clear as the Light of the Matrix.

 

Primary gun-metal grey with some black color scheme.

 

Bulky chest plate and body frame (though not as big as he remembered), with a (red?) Decepticon symbol right smack on the center of his chest.

 

The dinged, yet still sturdy, upside down bucket-shaped midnight-black helm on top of a gaunt faceplate with piercing ice blue optics that could gaze right into the darkest depths of your spark.

 

The great big fusion cannon mounted on his right arm.

 

Although there were some strange features, like the pair of wings mounted on the back and the bright red rectangular hard-light shield attached to his left arm, there was no mistaking who that was, blasting at them and trying to make a break for it.

 

_Megatron._

 

“Get down!” Springer yelled, diving forward and shoving Rodimus out of the way just in time to get them both out of the way of the Decepticon leader’s line of fire. As the two of them hit the ground, the Triple Changer could see Black Shadow raise one of his heavy blasters.

 

“Sorry to break it to ‘ya, Megs,” the black and blue  ~~Decepticon~~ Autobot sneered, “We ain’t going nowhere. And neither are you.” As he finished his taunt, Black Shadow pulled the trigger, nailing Megatron straight in the chest with a photon blast, causing the Decepticon to fall to the ground, writhing in pain.

 

“Hey!” Springer turned his attention back to Rodimus just in time to see the purple bot push him off and stand up, a look of distrust on his faceplate. “Get off! And you still haven’t answered. Who are you, and what the hell are you doing here?” Oh right. Still need to explain all that to him.

 

“‘Cmon Rodimus, it’s me, Springer! Remember? We worked together during that whole Great Push scrap? I haven’t been gone that long, right?”

 

Springer saw Rodimus’s faceplate take on a look of confusion before replying: “Buddy, I have absolutely no idea what you’re jabbering on about. Where’s your unit?” His voice became more authoritative and commanding, as well as annoyed. “And what were you doing, interfering with our firefight?”

 

“Yeah,” Black Shadow spoke up, standing up from where he was slapping stasis cuffs on Megatron to face Springer and Rodimus. “You AWOL, mate? Decided to up and leave your unit? And what the bloody hell is wrong with your badge?” He made no attempt at subtlety as he leveled his blasters so they were aimed right at Springer’s chest.

 

“What? Ummm… uhh...” Was all the response Springer could stammer out, his processor frozen upon this unexpected turn this conversation had taken.

 

“You know what?” Black Shadow said, menace entering his voice. “Let’s let him explain his treason to the big boss the Grand Imperiex himself, yeah?”

 

Rodimus seemed to consider it for a klick, stroking his ridiculous metallic facial hair. “Sounds fine by me.” He turned back to Springer with a smirk. “You’re about to be in a whole world of trouble.”

 

As soon as those words had exited Rodimus’ vocoder, Springer’s field of vision lit up with the fluorescent orange as he felt twin photon bolts slam into his chest, disrupting his internal circuits and sending him into temporary shutdown. As he lost consciousness, only one thought was on the triple changer’s processor.

 

 

 

_This is all wrong…_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all very much for reading! Special thanks to @Kranky_Tanky and @starscrearn for being amazing and super helpful beta readers. Go check out their own fics, they're all amazing. Anyways, kudos and comments are always appreciated. Don't know when chapter 2 will come up, but stay tuned for it! Till All Are One! :)


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